


Incidental Audience

by WrathoftheStag



Category: God's Own Country (2017)
Genre: Acceptance, Cheese Making, Falling In Love, Family, Introspection, M/M, Nature, Sheep!, a glimpse into Gheorghe's childhood, finding happiness, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrathoftheStag/pseuds/WrathoftheStag
Summary: Gheorghe looks back briefly at his childhood and the memories that bring one where they need to be.  A ficlet about the past, the future, and love.
Relationships: Gheorghe Ionescu/Johnny Saxby
Comments: 28
Kudos: 117





	Incidental Audience

_"Moors are a stage for the performance of heaven. Any audience is incidental."_ \- Ted Hughes

Ani was feeling a bit skittish that morning. Gheorghe could tell instantly; he could tell when Ani was out of sorts. He knew how all the sheep felt at any given moment as he walked amongst them, especially the ewes. He knew when Camilla was in a bad mood, when Gabi was being bloody indignant. He knew them all—their quirks and tempers. He recognized them as they ran through the vast space of the open moors. Each one unique to him. 

Ani was his favorite. Everyone on the farm knew that. She was a good dairy ewe. 

"There, there," Gheorghe murmured to her in Romanian as he patted her side. "Relax."

He took a teat in his hand and continued milking. Usually, Gheorghe would use the milking stations when making the cheeses, but for the house, he preferred to milk by hand. It made the process and the end product, more special. Intimate. 

It had been almost two years since Gheorghe first arrived at Saxby Farm, and the rebirth within the farm, the entire Saxby clan—and even himself—had been remarkable. The farm began to prosper under the guidance of Johnny and Gheorghe, with Martin and Deirdre finally standing behind Johnny. They had come to accept his ways both on the farm and beyond. Of course, the journey there had been complicated, and often exhausting, but they finally all understood each other. 

Gheorghe could hear Deirdre humming in the living room as he entered the house, a small pail of milk in hand. Martin sat next to her, watching as she iron.

"Making your cheese?" she called out after the door shut. "Don't you dare use my best tea towel for your slop." 

It had become a thing with them. She teased Gheorghe, teased him as a form of affection. 

"Which is the best? They all look terrible," Gheorghe shot back with a wry grin. 

"The cheek on you!"

Gheorghe smiled, a tiny thing, and placed the pail on the counter.

The formula was the same. The steps never changed. Gheorghe knew that if he warmed raw sheep's with a little bit of salt to 85 degrees and added lemon juice, he'd get curds. Those curds, in turn, would be pressed into a cheesecloth, tied and hung, draining and draining still, suspended over a whey bowl. He knew that in three hours, he would have cheese. This was a fact. It would never change no matter how much someone may want it to change. You would never get chocolate or jam from this process; you always got cheese. There was comfort in that—comfort in absolute certainty, comfort that Gheorghe loved to share with others.

His father taught him how to make cheese. It was never a man's job or a woman's job; it was just a job. Gheorghe's father, Ionut, taught him many things. He felt that softness in men was underrated. Gheorghe's grandfather was not unkind, but he never showed any affection. Ever. This was something that was never lost on Ionut.

"I'd rather my son be caring and respectful than violent, stupid or aloof," Ionut had said as he and Madalina watched the infant Gheorghe sleep. 

All Ionut ever wanted was to attend the university and maybe become a professor, but his father's farm had other plans. Ionut found he didn't mind so much. One day, he met Madalina. She was a young school teacher who joked often and smelled of lavender. They fell in love and soon had Gheorghe. 

"There is pride to be had in the tending of your flock, in helping the ground provide for your family. Milk, cheese, meat, family… what else is there?" Ionut would say.

Young Gheorghe would run through the fields, among the sheep, feeling as though he'd never want to leave the farm. Ever.

**+**

The first time Johnny tried Gheorghe's cheese, Gheorghe didn't ask him to eat it. He simply placed the soft cheese on the table, took a slice of bread, and spread a thick layer upon it. It had been a while since Gheorghe made cheese, but it was a good batch. The sweetness of cheese danced with the buttery, briny scent. Gheorghe chewed slowly as he carefully watched Johnny spoon a tiny bit onto his bread. He sniffed at it cautiously, then took a small bite.

The look of surprise quickly flashed across Johnny's face, and he instantly scooped some more cheese, with rehearsed nonchalance, onto his bread. The two ate quietly, each one smiling into their slice.

Gheorghe's relationship with both Deirdre and Martin took a while to develop. Johnny had made it clear that Gheorghe was there to stay, a part of the farm for good. They would look after, not only the sheep but each other. Much like Johnny eating Gheorghe's cheese, Deirdre and Martin looked at Gheorghe cautiously and approached slowly. Eventually, they took him in and trusted him, as they'd finally done with Johnny.

**+**

During the first few months at the farm, after Gheorghe had returned for good, Johnny and Gheorghe would whisper secrets to each other no one else dared to hear, under the safety of the dead of night. It was during those moments just after Johnny and Gheorghe would finish exploring one another, while the serotonin and endorphins still pulsed throughout their bodies, that they would slowly come down together and let anything at all tumble out of their mouths.

"Tell me somethin'," Johnny would ask while he rested on his stomach, head turned on his folded arms, looking at Gheorghe, who was on his side, stroking Johnny's hair.

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything."

"Anything?"

"Aye, anything."

"When I was a small boy," he said, "I would hide from my parents and run into the barn behind our home. I felt that it called to me—that I should be there. Sometimes I would carry our cat, Silviea, so we would both get into trouble. She would try to jump away from me, and I would laugh. I would wander away from the barn and lie on my back on the grass. I would look up at the trees and wonder where they end… when they end. Could I climb up one and see? Everything smelled like sunlight and happiness. And then it all changed."

Johnny moved closer and gently pressed his lips to Gheorghe's, slowly parting them, licking into his mouth.

**+**

It is in the moors of the Pennine Mountains that Gheorghe feels like he did as a child. That wonder, that sense of the sublime—all at once frightening and awe-inspiring—comes back to him there. 

He used to think that a view that beautiful could not be touched by anyone, not really, so it presented itself as a form of loneliness. One would look out at the landscape and feel a profound sense of inexplicable loneliness. As he sat on a thin blanket, overlooking the roiling skies, eating cheese and bread and meat with Johnny, Gheorghe now knew that was wrong. That he was wrong. They are all an incidental audience to such loveliness once they open themselves up to it.

Johnny smiled at Gheorghe, as he helped himself to some more bread and cheese. Johnny never comments on the cheese but merely eats it heartily—both knowing that he loves it. All of it.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic for this lovely movie that I just recently rewatched. Also inspired by [the deleted scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQEzcFwIZdA) where Johnny first tries Gheorghe's cheese. I'll never understand why that was cut from the movie. Comments are always appreciated. <3
> 
> Come and say hi [on Tumblr](https://wrathofthestag.tumblr.com/).


End file.
